


In Time

by kissablekogane



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Fluff, Gay Keith (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, POV Keith (Voltron), Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Romantic Fluff, klance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-26
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-05-29 02:32:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15063098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kissablekogane/pseuds/kissablekogane
Summary: Love works in mysterious, sometimes painfully slow, ways.  Keith and Lance are obviously meant to be together, but they can both be oblivious.  Keith has some emotional walls up, as well as trust issues.  Lance gets too much in his own head.  They might need some time to adjust to their feelings.





	1. The Injury

Keith limped down the hallway, completely exhausted. It had been and extremely long day, and he was super beaten up from a mission he had been on all day with Pidge and Lance. It was an infiltration mission, and he had seen a lot of hands-on combat throughout the day. Pidge and Lance both were busy with other things, so Keith was the one doing most of the fighting. Keith arrived at his room and let out a relieved sigh. He was so tired. He didn't even feel like showering, he just wanted to go to bed.

Everyone else had presumably gone to bed, as it was very late, about one a.m. He had parted from both Pidge and Lance almost immediately after they arrived back. Keith had noticed that Lance had been quieter than usual today. Usually filled with witty remarks and unnecessary comments, Lance today was silent. He would respond if spoken to, but otherwise seemed spaced-out...like he was deep in thought, or maybe worried about something. Keith didn't know. He was usually good at reading Lance, but today was different. Keith was replaying the events of today in his head, focusing on the ones involving Lance. 

Keith sleepily opened his door, entered his room, and collapsed onto his bed, letting out a deep sigh. As he looked up at the ceiling, he couldn't stop picturing Lance, more importantly his behavior today...or lack thereof. Keith brushed the thoughts aside, grumbling. He didn't have the energy to think about this right now, why was he even thinking about it? He closed his eyes, attempting to clear his mind.

Beginning to drift off, he was starting to fall asleep when he suddenly remembered something. Keith sat up and cursed under his breath. He had taken a pretty gruesome stab to his side earlier, leaving and unkept wound. He doesn't even know how he had forgotten, perhaps he was simply THAT tired. Either way, it needed dealt with. Keith was a little concerned about how bad it was, having not looked at it all day. 

He took his shirt off and examined his wound. He grimaced upon seeing it. It was worse that he had thought. He stood up, heading toward the bathroom, suddenly struck with a sharp pain. Keith gasped and winced as he sunk to the floor, bending at the waist. 

Keith was beginning to feel light headed, and his vision was starting to blur. Okay, maybe this wound was a lot worse than he thought. Keith tried to steady his breathing, as it was becoming more sporadic. He hugged his hands to his side, with his knees tucked up to his chest. A horrible feeling began to bubble up inside of him. Fear? Worry? Or was it simply pain?

Keith knew this feeling all too well, how he resented it. He was too easily consumed by it, far too often. Anger. He was struck one again with a painful anger. Keith clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, trying to ease his anger. Prodding thoughts started to flood Keith's mind, seeming to taunt him. 

He always tried, or was able to do things for himself. People always thought of him as a loner, probably because of how resistant he was to assistance of any kind. Something about him hated having to ask for help, it made him feel...venerable. Keith was used to being alone, having to take care of himself for basically his entire life. How helpless he was. His whole life, he had no one. No one who cared about him enough to stay with him, listen to him, or help him...simply because they want to. He was so used to resisting people. He was afraid they wouldn't except him, or would be annoyed by him. It wasn't an irrational fear in his eyes.

Keith's thoughts continued to torture him, swirling in his head. His heart was racing as he squatted, slouched on the floor, buckled over in pain. He raised his hand up only to see that it was covered in blood. "Great..." he mumbled to himself, beginning to feel overtaken with not anger, but sadness. There was no way he could muster the strength to stand, let alone get someone to help him. This had all happened so fast, and Keith's pain was getting increasingly worse. 

Tears began to well up in Keith's eyes. He didn't know why he was crying, he didn't feel sad...or did he? He was so used to pushing his emotions away, and didn't feel that his feelings were a priority most of the time. He assumed no one really cared about his opinions, thus keeping them to himself. The more time elapsed, the more alone Keith felt, crouched on the floor in his room. Tears streamed down his face now. No sound escaped him, except for his unsteady breathing. There was no doubt about it, he was alone. Keith closed his eyes and sunk his face into his hands, crying. 

Just then, there was a knock at Keith's door. "Keith?" a concerned voice called from the hallway outside.  
It sounded like Lance.


	2. To The Rescue

“Keith?” Lance’s concerned call came from the hall outside Keith’s room.  
Keith felt like he was being stabbed all over again. He couldn’t muster the strength to even respond. “I’m coming in, okay?” Lance said through the door. Thankfully Keith hadn’t locked it earlier. The door slid open and there stood Lance, at first looking only mildly concerned. Upon seeing Keith on the floor, he was quickly caught off-guard and rushed over to him.

“Keith, Keith, what’s wrong buddy, you okay?” Lance said, almost too fast to understand, placing a hand on Keith’s shoulder. Keith felt his heart jump in his chest at the contact.  
“Uh...stabbed...earlier...ngh....in my side...”. Keith said breathily. Lance had to think about it for a moment before he understood what Keith was talking about. Lance looked down and saw the pool of blood surrounding the red paladin.  
“Oh my god! Dude?!” Lance raised his voice and sounded almost panicked.  
“It’s okay...just go get Allura or Shiro or something...” Keith mumbled. 

It was silent for a moment, as they were side by side on the floor. Lance’s hand still rested on Keith’s shoulder, and Keith was unable to direct his focus elsewhere. Keith was already breathing hard, but something about Lance’s touch made his heart beat even faster.  
“Okay, okay, um, I’m gonna be right back, okay? Don’t, uh, go anywhere alright?” Lance said standing up and waving his hands around. If Keith was not in excruciating pain, he would have laughed. ‘Don’t go anywhere?’ Geez, what a dork, Keith thought as Lance hurried out of the room. Almost immediately after Lance had gone, Keith began to feel increasingly light headed. The room seemed to spin. He struggled to breathe. There was a persistent ringing in his ears. His inner turmoil was creeping up in him again. Just like that, his vision faded to black.

Keith awoke in his bed, presumably the next morning. He lied still for a moment, attempting to get a grasp on what exactly happened. He slowly tried to sit up, and was struck with stinging pain in his side. It wasn’t as bad and faded quickly, he could tell someone had stitched up his wound. He looked down at his side. There were bandages wrapped all around his torso, keeping him from seeing his damaged body, but he didn’t really care. He rubbed his eyes sleepily, trying to adjust to the light and take a look around. 

He wasn’t in his room, no, it didn’t look or feel like his own. There were an assortment of soft colorful blankets and pillows scattered about the bed. It was dimly lit, by what seemed to be...fairy lights? Yep, definitely not Keith’s room. The curtains were drawn, keeping it pretty dark...almost cozy. Reluctantly, Keith tossed away the blanket that was covering him and swung his feet over the side of the bed. His bare feet hit the cold floor as he stood up. He didn’t know whose room this was. He had never really seen any of the other paladins’ rooms, except for Pidge. She had lost her bayard, thanks to her disorganized habits, and had asked Keith to help her look. Besides that though, he couldn’t think of a time he had been in another one of their rooms. This room could belong to any of them. 

Just as Keith took a step toward the door, it slid open, filling the room with light. The sight would have normally irritated him, for he usually was not extremely fond of the individual who stood before him. Instead, he was filled with a wide array of sudden emotions, none of them irritation. In the doorway stood Lance, looking at Keith with a smile on his face.  
“I see you’re awake!” He said in a cheerful voice.  
The volume of his voice made Keith’s head pound.  
“Yeah...” Keith whispered softly, rubbing his eyes.  
“Oh, sorry. I see you’re awake...” Lance said again, lowering his voice.  
Keith didn’t know where it came from, but he let out a giggle.  
“Well, I’m glad you’re feeling better.” Lance said with a fondness in his tone. Keith looked up at Lance to see him still smiling. Keith felt his face flush.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry these chapters are so short !! Shorter chapters mean I can update them more frequently sooo it’s ok.


	3. The Crush

Keith walked apprehensively into the kitchen, where everyone else was already gathered and eating breakfast. They didn’t notice him at first. Keith goes unnoticed most of the time, he is very quiet as well as light in his feet. He stood, arms crossed, staring at his friends interacting rather loudly around the table.

Amidst the talking and laughter, Keith noticed Lance was quiet. He sat still, with his hands in his lap, staring off into space, completely zoned out it would seem. Keith normally wouldn’t think anything of it, but Lance has been like this recently...quiet, like he has something on his mind. 

Just then, Lance shifted his gaze upward and made eye contact with Keith. His expression lightened, and he smiled. “Keith!” He exclaimed. Everyone else then turned to Keith, who was standing even more awkwardly now that everyone was looking at him. “Hi...” He squeaked. They all let out overlapping cries of relief and happiness as they surrounded him and greeted him. “Keith, buddy! Glad you’re back with us!” Hunk said giddily. Pidge merely gave him a joyful high five, knowing how much Keith dislikes hugs. Shiro gave him a hug.

Once they had gotten all of their excitement out, gradually they filtered out of the room, resuming their daily schedules. Only Keith and Lance remained. They sat across from each other at the table, silently eating. It seemed like the type of situation that would be awkward, but it wasn’t for some reason. Keith looked up only to find that Lance was already looking at him. Slightly shocked, Lance quickly averted his gaze elsewhere. 

“Okay,” Keith said, “Are we going to talk about what’s bothering you or not?”  
“What?” Lance said, taken by surprise.  
“You’ve been quiet for days, too quiet.” Keith said quietly.   
Lance said nothing. He simply looked at Keith. Keith has been trying to identify that expression for days now. It’s like Lance has something on his mind, something he wants to share, but can’t. He needs to talk, but doesn’t want to at the same time. Keith wasn’t usually one to handle emotions well, or at all. He had plenty of problems in that area. He always figured Lance was the opposite, what with his usual attitude and optimism.  
If there is one thing that Keith can do, it’s listen. 

Lance would typically try to hide it, to pretend that nothing was wrong. He knew exactly what Keith was talking about though, and it was on his mind constantly. There was no way he could hide it anymore.

They sat in silence, just looking at each other. Keith wasn’t trying to push Lance, he didn’t even have to answer if he didn’t want to. At the same time, Keith was a little worried, as well as curious. “Alright...” Lance said softly. “If I tell you, you promise to not make fun of me?”  
“Well,” Keith chuckled slightly.   
Lance gave him a serious look.  
“Or at least not to tell anyone else?”  
“Okay, I promise.” Keith agreed.  
Lance took a deep breath, Keith noticed that he was blushing slightly.   
“I think I like someone.” Lance said.  
Keith said nothing.  
“Like, LIKE someone.” Lance reiterated.  
“Oh, okay?” Keith said, a little confused as to how this was a problem. “May I ask, who?” Keith questioned.  
“No...that would be too embarrassing if I told you.” Lance said.  
Keith nodded his head, understanding, but still was curious.

There was more silence.   
“Can I ask...exactly what is the problem? Why is this bothering you so much?” Keith asked, trying not to come off as too aggressive.  
“Well...I want to tell this person how I feel right...? But I don’t know how they would react, or if they feel the same way...or if they even like me at all.”  
Keith could tell this was actually starting to eat away at Lance. He was usually so confident in himself, but obviously he is stressed about the feelings of this other person.

Keith wasn’t good at giving advice, especially when it came to relationships, but as he spoke, he didn’t even have to think about it.  
“I’m sure they like you Lance, I mean you’re amazing. They would be crazy not to like you.”  
‘What was that?’ Keith thought.  
Keith’s words were getting away from him, he didn’t know where they were coming from.   
“Really? Do you mean that?” Lance said, a smile forming in his face.  
“Of course I mean it Lance.” Keith said genuinely. 

Lance was smiling now, and Keith found himself smiling as well. Lance sat back in his chair, obviously less worried. Keith wondered how he had made him feel so much better, his advice has never been that great, but he tried his best. 

Lance stood up and started to walk towards the door, when he stopped. “Thank you Keith, for listening to me.”   
Keith didn’t know what to say, so he just smiled. Lance smiled back and continued walking. As Keith watched him leave, he felt his heart pound in his chest.

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve been having klance feels lately sooo this is how I cope I guess. This is a little story I’ve been working on, the chapters are short so don’t come for me pls. Just like you, I’m curious to see where this will end up.


End file.
